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Posts Tagged ‘Gulf of Mexico’

USA Travel – Miami City Profile

July 3rd, 2009 No comments
by Many Barack

Miami sometimes feels like a huge Hollywood set. The cliches about the city and its illustrious beach community, Miami Beach – nearly all of which are based in fact – are but a small part of Miami’s colourful mosaic.

International financial deals are not the only thing happening in Miami. The city’s concerts, theatre performances, gallery exhibits, ballet companies and museums offer plentiful cultural stimulation and world-class entertainment. Located in picturesque south Florida, Miami is a popular location for television and movie crews.

Fashion photographers from glossy magazines pose their models against the backdrop of the turquoise waters of the Gulf of Mexico or the deep blue Atlantic Ocean. Looking at Miami’s striking skyline, home to corporate headquarters of hundreds of international financial institutions, it is hard to image that until recently southern Florida was a landscape dominated by mosquito-infested swamps. The first Spanish explorers of the region, arriving in 1513 with Ponce de Leon, declared it completely uninhabitable.

The real history of the city, which was founded on 28 July 1896, began with the advent of the railway. Freezing Canadians and New Yorkers climbed aboard to escape to beautiful, sunny Miami. In the 1920s, during the days of Prohibition, Miami was known as a city with legalized gambling and less than serious efforts to enforce the ban on alcohol. The result was a building boom. Little by little, starting with hotels and apartments, the Miami skyline began to rise.

Melting pot for Latin Americans. After Fidel Castro seized power in Cuba in 1959, a stream of refugees poured into south Florida. The impact was enormous. Hoards of Cuban refugees arrived in Miami, settling in the neighbourhood called “Little Havana”. There, salsa music resounds in the streets, men play dominos and chess in the parks, and the air is thick with the aroma of coffee and cigar smoke.

A trip along the palm-tree-lined Ocean Drive, Miami Beach’s famous boulevard in the heart of its famous Art Deco district, offers breathtaking views of the Atlantic Ocean, the beach and, of course, the rich and famous. With its uniquely “Miami Style” Art Deco architecture, the entire district is under historic protection today Rich with pastel colours and full of eclectic details, there is no other cityscape like it on Earth.

Unfortunately, the building boom of the 1920s also caused considerable damage to the natural environment. Over 120 hectares of the unique Everglades wetlands were drained to provide Miami with water and sewage facilities and dry land on which to build. Even today, south Florida draws millions of litre of water from the Everglades.

Interrupting the water cycle that supplies this magnificent natural landscape with moisture and nutrients diminishes the vitality of the biosphere. At present, national parks and wildlife preserves protect barely 20 per cent of the Everglades watershed.. The unique flora and fauna of the Everglades were added to the UNESCO List of World Natural Heritage Sites in 1979. Still, the environment was classified as endangered in 1993.

No stay in Miami would be complete without a short trip to Coral Gables, one of the first planned communities in the country. Distinguished by its beautiful Spanish colonial-style villas, Coral Gables also boasts elegant country clubs, world-class art galleries and the University of Miami.

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MS Beach Vacation Condos Gulf Coast Cool and Different

July 31st, 2008 No comments
by Christan Woolery

Everyone has all heard of southern warmth, right? Correct, what greater way to encounter it than a sojourn to Mississippi? Precisely, when a majority of us picture of Mississippi we think of swampland and alligators but what we do not consider is that Mississippi has an alias side. The southernmost portion of the state beside Biloxi touches the Gulf of Mexico and here you can locate some grand beaches and holiday spots. Mississippi Beach Vacation condos are some of the most affordable, more genteel places to plan your vacation.

Due to their relative unknown situation, Mississippi beach vacation condos are a grand find. Not only do you probably have a large portion of the area to yourself and you will also have availability to grand native goodies, including casinos, championship golf courses, special cuisine, art galleries, charter boat fishing, known potteries, museums, historic districts, shopping outlets, incomparable shopping districts, world-class entertainment and so much more.

Mississippi beach vacation condos are preferred not only for their affordability but also for their locale. This section of the Gulf Coast coast is much less spread out than the coast in near Florida, Alabama, and Louisiana. Here you feel much more like you have the beach to yourself, likely kind of what vacationing felt like decades ago. Today, you are infrequently alone regardless to where you go nonetheless Mississippi beach vacation condos supply you that feeling fairly close to home. As far as the cost goes, you can not likely root out a better rental condo for your buck than the condos you locate on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast. Though rates do deviate, you are inclined to pay at least a fraction the daily fee of what you would spend at a rental condo in Florida

If you are going to stay in a Mississippi beach vacation condo, you should taste the cuisine. Southern cooking is some of the incomparable cusine to be had on the planet and the restaurants of Biloxi are no exception. Presently you will uncover a wide patchwork of restaurants serving seafood, Creole fare and traditional Southern fare.

If clubbing is what you want to do, there are ample of casinos and cabaret in the vicinity to see. Biloxi is a metropolitan area noted for its night life and is assured to not disappoint. The Biloxi area has around twenty casinos, including the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino and Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville Casino and Resort.

The weather in the Biloxi area is exceedingly nicer than you may speculate. When varied numbers of us think of the South, we think of unbearable heat and mosquitoes. Due to Biloxi’s position on the Gulf Coast, you receive that marvelous, unsoiled sea breeze that takes the heat away, leaving you with a affable, agreeable environment that you can actually savor.

If you are considering a vacation on the Gulf Coast, think over staying in a Mississippi beach vacation condo. Just forget the typical, filled locales and try out something distinct. Mississippi is clamoring for your business and will do anything to keep you satisfied. This together with traditional southern warmth makes for a good experience. So grant Mississippi a chance on your next vacation, your household and your wallet will thank you!

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